Pride Parade abruptly cancelled due to lack of volunteers, but Montrealers find a way to celebrate

There was obvious disappointment Sunday at the abrupt cancellation of the Montreal Pride Parade, but celebrations still went on.

Pride Montreal abruptly cancelled its iconic annual parade hours before it was to get underway on Sunday, citing security concerns stemming from a lack of volunteers for the event.

Festival Executive Director Simon Gamache said the march, which was to cap days of celebration of LGBTQ+ communities and which had been scheduled for Sunday afternoon, would not have been able to proceed safely.

“We were missing more than 80 people this morning, it’s a lot,” Gamache said in an interview, adding the absentees represented more than a third of the number needed for the parade to go ahead.

Montreal’s Pride Parade has been celebrating the progress of LGBTQ+ rights, diversity and inclusion for the last 40 years, and thousands of people were expected to march through the downtown core on Sunday.

Pride Montreal issued a statement on Twitter, saying it made the decision with the support of city police because there were not enough volunteers to ensure safety along the parade route.

That statement was later partially amended.

“Our statement this morning was incorrect,” organizers tweeted late Sunday afternoon. “To clarify: the decision to cancel the parade was made by Pride Montreal. The reason was accurate: a lack of personnel that would have ensured safety along the parade route. The SPVM was not involved in that decision.”

Ce matin nous avons publié un texte imprécis. Pour clarifier, la décision d’annuler le Défilé a été prise par Fierté Montréal. La raison est bien celle communiquée : un manque du personnel pour assurer la sécurité le long du parcours. @SPVM n’était pas impliquée dans la décision.

— Fierté MTL Pride (@FierteMTLPride) August 7, 2022

Several Montrealers who were planning to participate in or watch the parade shared their disappointment with CityNews.

“It’s really disappointing for all the people. They put love their heart in it, so much energy,” said one.

“I’m really sad too,” said another. “But happy Pride Montreal.”

There were some out-of-towners too who were left frustrated by the last-minute cancellation.

“I just arrived from France yesterday,” said a woman on stilts. “I was supposed to do the parade today so I’m kind of sad.”

“We drove five hours to get here…” said another. “This was like the point of the trip, to go to Pride, it was our moment and it was cancelled.”

“I was taking the Greyhound bus leave on Tuesday morning at three in the morning,” said an American from Washington, D.C. “The bus was cancelled. So I almost cancelled my trip. I thought that’s a good sign for me not to go.”

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said on Sunday she was shocked to learn of the cancellation, calling the event “the most important LGBTQ2IA+ event in North America.”

“I will not hide my surprise and my dissatisfaction to learn in the newspaper this morning that it wouldn’t take place, a few hours from the start,” she said at a news conference. “If we had been aware of a lack of manpower, or even anything, we would have put the necessary energy.”

IN PHOTOS: Montrealers celebrate Pride despite official parade cancellation

Gamache said this year’s Pride festival fell prey to the kind of labour shortages currently plaguing numerous sectors in Quebec and beyond. He also said COVID-19 cases were reported among the volunteers in the last few days, in addition to heatstroke and heavy fatigue.

“Yesterday … we have the necessary resources, but it was very limited,” he said.

Even though the event was cancelled, a few hundred people showed up to celebrate diversity and marched down the streets in an improvised parade.

Other activities were still set to take place at the Olympic Park Sunday afternoon. Gamache said another event might be organized to replace the parade.

“Pride is so important to our community because even in 2022, we’re still the victims of hate crimes, we still face discrimination, and in many countries around the world being openly queer is a crime,” said Philippe Laurin of Montreal’s 2SLGBTQ+ community. “So Pride is the perfect mixture of pageant and protest to properly show to the world that we’re here, we’re queer, and that everyone needs to get used to it.”